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The other week the Wall Street Journal published an interesting and somewhat amusing article about the latest trend in upscale neighborhoods: renting a goat as a means to trim a yard and eliminate weeds.

Apparently renting a goat constitutes an environmentally-friendly "carbon-emission-free" way to trim grass. The Journal reports that: "Prices can range from $200 a day for a dozen goats to upward of $1,000 for larger herds of 100 or more."

If this trend catches on, it will pose some unique issues for associations throughout Virginia. Many associations will likely look skeptically upon goat trailers carting goats smack into the middle of their neighborhood as they’re let loose to chew-up the grass throughout a lot. Many associations’ covenants contain restrictions on maintaining or raising cattle, livestock, and non-domesticated animals on lots, but those covenants may not explicitly prohibit those animals from coming on to a lot for short periods of time. Therefore, if an association encounters this situation, it may want to consider amending its covenants to prohibit non-domesticated animals from coming on to lots.

So if you serve on the board of an association and wake up tomorrow morning to the sight of a flock of goats roaming around a yard, it might be smart to try to have the association address the situation through the covenants rather than having neighbors become angry with each other and try to "chew each other out".